New ASEAN summit venue to be announced shortly
THAILAND is moving an Asian summit in October away from the island of Phuket because it coincides with a religious festival where devotees pierce their bodies with skewers, a minister said Friday.
The meeting of leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and regional dialogue partners will now take place in the royal beach resort of Hua Hin, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said.
Thailand, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member bloc, has repeatedly changed the venue and date of the summit due to the ongoing political turmoil in the kingdom.
China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India will attend the summit along with Asean’s 10 member-states. The Democrat-led government held a meeting with 10 Asean leaders in late February in Cha-Am/Hua Hin, but the six dialogue partners did not attend.
The following Thai-hosted Asean summit was abandoned after anti-government protesters stormed the meeting’s venue in Pattaya.
Prime Minister Abhisit Abhisit, however, said the exact venue of the summit is still not decided and said that concerned officials are considering several factors before making the final decision. The prime minister said it might be “inconvenient” to hold the summit in Phuket as the community will hold its annual vegetarian fair, and that the necessary security arrangement could negatively impact tourism at that time.